There are a good number of athletes and coaches who might shrink from the challenge of having a target on their backs. Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is not one of those people.
While fans recognize Mazzulla’s faith as a “man of God” it’s also become increasingly difficult to ignore this simple fact – the man is also pretty badass.
Mazzulla, after becoming the youngest coach (35 at the time) to win the title since Bill Russell in 1969, is thoroughly embracing the opportunity to repeat this season. And he doesn’t care if you have a target on his team or not.
In fact, he’s kind of excited about it.
“I wish we started tomorrow,” Mazzulla told the ‘Locked on Celtics‘ podcast. “I hope it’s even 10 times harder than it was last year.”
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Joe Mazzulla Doesn’t Want The Target On His Back
As a Lakers fan, it’s hard to acknowledge greatness coming from Beantown, but Joe Mazzulla is already a legend. And in my view, his legend grew exponentially with his follow-up quote on having a target on his back.
He doesn’t want opposing teams to place it on his back. In fact, he wants to grab hold of the weapon and dare them to take their best shot.
“People are going to say the target’s on our back, but I hope it’s right in our forehead, in between our eyes,” said Mazzulla. “I hope I can see the red dot.”
My goodness, that is an epic quote.
No team has repeated as NBA champions since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. But Mazzulla has been thinking about it since the moment his team won Game 5 over the Dallas Mavericks in last year’s NBA Finals.
On ESPN’s “The Lowe Podcast” back in June, the Celtics coach said he’d been planning a repeat “since the horn went off”.
More Celtics Trash Talk
Again, as a Lakers fan, I grew up absolutely loathing the Boston Celtics. Maybe it’s a softening of the edges as one gets older, but my appreciation for them has grown in recent years.
Watching documentaries on Larry Bird and appreciating the level of trash talk that man delivered and then backed up was legendary. And now this.
How did everybody in Boston just become such assassins when it comes to talking the talk and walking the walk?
Speaking of which, I also enjoyed this story about legendary Celtic Bob Cousy, now 95 years old, saying he was relieved when he found out the team would be facing the Mavericks in the Finals last year because he knew he’d be able to go to bed early on game nights.
“Cousy said he was relieved when the Mavericks won the Western Conference because he thought the Celtics would beat them easily and he wouldn’t have to stay up until 11:30 on game nights to watch the end of the games,” the Telegram & Gazette reported.
Ice. Cold.
Joe Mazzulla was an NCAA Division II level coach just two years ago. Now, he’s riding his basketball knowledge and faith to unheard-of heights in the NBA.
Will he and the Celtics repeat next season? Right now they are the odds-on favorite.
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